InsaneJournal

Wayward Son: Supernatural and Spirituality pt2

lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more
What’s strange and intriguing about Dean is also that in his family, he’s the peacemaker and the nurturer. Sam makes fun of Dean, guessing that he’s “not good with kids”, Dean counters that he is, and Sam says “name three children you even know”. Dean is unable to, and Sam seems to think he won the argument. But really, Dean could’ve easily countered with “I raised you, you moron.” We find out in later episodes that Dean is, in fact, not that bad with kids when he needs to be. And to Dean, his family is more important than the hunt, he talks about struggling to hold them together, wanting them to be “the way we used to be” and the fact that Sam and John are all he has. John has his revenge and a full life already lived, Sam has his academic potential and the career, friends and normal life that could bring him, but Dean basically gave up his entire life for them. Sam admitted to wanting to find the Yellow Eyed Demon so he could have his revenge and go back to his real life, but Dean couldn’t fathom not continuing to help people just because their own problem was over.

Anna Milton appealed to Dean’s protective instincts. But it’s also true that he needed her as much as she needed him. A lot of fans are pretty down on Anna, but I like her and I see why she was important to this season.

Anna is a higher ranking angel than Castiel and Uriel- and since Uriel is, according to mainstream Christian mythology, one of the four archangels*, this makes Anna a very high ranking angel indeed. In fact, as Uriel is taunting Castiel about how there “is no God”, Anna appears behind him and announces “Maybe, maybe not. But there’s still me” just before she runs him through with Lucifer’s sword*.

As SPN canon explained in that very episode, only an angel can kill an angel, so the question is more, is Anna a good fallen angel or a bad fallen angel? She could still be a bad one, if this show was so clever that it’d have her playing even Uriel for a fool but I don’t think it’s going to get that complicated. I mean, I don’t think Anna is secretly Lucifer or anything-in spite of another fan theory that wonders if SPN’s mythology believes that Lucifer can be redeemed as well. Because I think Anna is deliberately meant to be a counterpoint to the demonic Ruby. We’re dealing with a duality thing here, this show is smarter than I thought it was but I still wouldn’t think it plans to subvert the Madonna/Whore dichotomy any time soon. This is not…it’s not that kind of show. Plus, each of the girls is supposed to be *superficially* exactly the opposite of the brother she hooked up with while actually being exactly what he needs.

Or maybe it’s all a giant snow job, which would make the writers geniuses and they’re…not, even if I wouldn’t put it past them to be just making this up as they go along.

I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high

There is another fallen angel legend though, the Pistis Sophia. Sometimes referred to as an angel, sometimes God’s daughter, sometimes as the female half of God. Her reason for Falling was the opposite of Lucifer’s, she liked humanity too much. In her curiosity, she lost herself. Anna fell because she wanted to feel emotions and make her own choices. Symbolically speaking, Sophia is often described as being found again in the person of Mary Magdalene- who also happens to usually be portrayed as a red headed chick ostracized and believed to be insane by her community.

Anna came into Dean's life to provide comfort and support, to help prepare him for his upcoming trials. She is tuned into the voices of angels and it's through knowing Sam and Dean that she comes to realize who she really is. She's a holy being who lost her way, who was trapped in a human body and has to find her "grace" again to know her true self. Anna achieves gnosis and is restored to her true self.